Wednesday, February 20, 2008
MTI Internship Interview
Just came back from the MTI internship interview.
It was an enriching interview =)
I'm glad that instead of the usual theoractical questions, e.g. what are your strengths and weaknesses, give an incident whereby.., who inspired you.. etc, they asked about our views on the Singapore economy, and what can be done to go about solving the problems.
Readers of my blog know that I'm a keen follower on such stuff, and I'm glad I had the knowledge to give views on issues I've long thought about. I spoke about my personal experience with public hospitals, about the dire state of queues I myself experienced. Other than that, we discussed about the transport system in Singapore (ERP ERP ERP), the IRs and F1 racing, and the arts.
I'm glad that I proposed the alternative energy industry as the future driver of the Singapore economy. I kinda got inspired through watching Obama's and Clinton's speeches in their presidential debates, where they talked about creating 'green-collar' jobs and stopping the dependency on Middle-Eastern oil 'once and for all'. I hope it is a deviation from what were often mentioned in the newspapers: services sector, R&D and high-end manufacturing.
I'm also glad I suggested Islamic banking as another way forward for Singapore. Luckily, I saw that on MTI's website about the key Budget initiatives, where Islamic banking services are given further tax rebates. I kinda guess this was a lucrative trend, and just whacked it at the interview =P
I realised I talked a lot during the interview, so I hope I wasn't being overly-agressive =P
It was really enlightening to hear views from the 'insiders'. The people who were involved in drafting economic reports, the people who had access to all these top-secret economic data.
It was my first time discussing such stuff with people who are actually doing reports and putting proposals forward, rather than discussing issues in a tutorial situation whereby all talk is academic, and that does nothing to have actual influence on the outcome.
It was fun suggesting things to them, and hearing their rebuttals to us, and them providing their insider views on the reasons behind the government doing certain things.
I'm glad to find out that the economic and strategies division really do things I want to do in the future, i.e. do research on the economy, and provide the strategies that chart Singapore's future economic path. And I'm glad to hear that "economists are in high demand" =p
About the pay.. hehheh there's a secret regarding economists' pay which I'm damn happy about!
All in all, it was an eye-opening interview. Even if I fail to get it, I'll try my best to apply for MTI again, or try to work there in the future.
For now, fingers crossed I'll get it! =)
lowtide blogged @
6:20 pm
